Marilyn's Musings

I remember being on a panel in one of my first Bouchercons with authors Sharon Newman and Laurie King, and since we all wrote historical mysteries, the discussion naturally rolled over to “authenticity vs accuracy.” When you write historically, history is king. You never change the history to serve the plot, it’s always the other way around. If your plot doesn’t work with the history, then it’s back to the drawing board for that plot. It’s the contract the author has with the reader that the author will try to get the novel as historically accurate as they can. That’s why readers tune in to historicals. They like history with their mystery. But what do we mean when we say “authenticity vs accuracy”? Well, for one my books are set in late fourteenth century London. And there isn’t a publisher in the world that would publish my books if I wrote them in the more accurate Middle English instead of modern English. Some accuracy must be sacrificed for readers to be able to, well… re...